POSADA CARRILES BUILT BOMBS FOR, AND INFORMED ON, JORGE MAS CANOSA, CIA RECORDS REVEAL
CIA misjudged Posada as "not a typical boom and bang type" militant
Proposed Posada for "responsible civil position" in post-Castro government
Declassified Documents identify Posada's Agency Handlers
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 288
Posted - October 6, 2009
Both CIA and FBI intelligence records identify Posada as a mastermind of the bombing of Cubana airline flight 455, also using a pencil detonator, that
took the lives of all 73 passengers and crew on October 6, 1976. Posada has publicly admitted ties to a series of hotel bombings in Cuba in 1997; in
November 2000 he was arrested in Panama City for plotting to blow up an auditorium where Fidel Castro would be speaking. He is currently living freely
in Miami, awaiting trial in El Paso, Texas, early next year on charges of lying to immigration authorities about his role in the hotel bombings, and
as to how he illegally entered the United States in the spring of 2005.
Yet the CIA was grooming this mad man to take the helm of the Cuban government should said government fall with the death of Castro.
In a memo, Grover Lythcott described Posada as "not a typical 'boom and bang' type of individual" who was "acutely aware of the international
implications of ill planned or over enthusiastic activities against Cuba." A CIA personnel record suggested that Posada would be "excellent for use
in responsible civil position in PBRUMEN"—a codename for Cuba—"should the present government fall."
NSA Report